Pairing Syrah from Around the World

5 expressions of Syrah and dishes to pair with them

These are big, rich, aggressive wines and in my opinion, you either love them or hate them. The fact is, you just can’t ignore the quality in the glass and there’s a lot of value to be found in Australia. This bottle is a perfect example. Its $16 tariff is well worth it and it is a serious crowd pleaser.

Pairing foods with full-throttle wines can be very difficult, but Bourbon BBQ Baby Back Ribs can hold their own against the big, rich nose of an Australian Shiraz. Though a big wine can easily overpower the sweet, succulent rib meat, in the case of the Layer Cake Shiraz, the soft and juicy palate performance is perfect for slow roasted pork.

2010 Pure Love Wines Shiraz Layer Cake - The nose showed blackberry jam on toast, vanilla, sweet spices and a hint of pine. On the palate, it was soft with vibrant acidity, ripe wild berries, cola and pepper assaulting the senses, which turned to sour blackberry on the finish.

I can assure you that it's not a conspiracy. I think the better question is, Who is representing WA state Syrahs in the New York market? When I decided to write this piece, I went on a shopping spree through a number of Wine Stores in NYC. In each case, i asked for a recommendation. I tasted about twenty different bottles and landed with this set of five. My only goal was to not repeat a region. However, out of those twenty bottles, not one was a Washington state Syrah.

I can assure you that it's not a conspiracy. I think the better question is, Who is representing WA state Syrahs in the New York market? When I decided to write this piece, I went on a shopping spree through a number of Wine Stores in NYC. In each case, i asked for a recommendation. I tasted about twenty different bottles and landed with this set of five. My only goal was to not repeat a region. However, out of those twenty bottles, not one was a Washington state Syrah.

It is a pity that there still remains the perception that all Australia does with Shiraz is make hugely flavoursome, alcoholic wine that will not cellar. Anyone who tasted a Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier (Canberra District) or a Mt Langhi Ghiran or a Craiglee (both Victorian) knows this is rubbish. These are top drawer, restrained Nothern Rhone/Cote Rotie styles which will hold their own world-wide in any Syrah/Shiraz taste-off. Spicy, peppery styles (with a hint of apricot with the Clonakilla) which demand at least 10 years in the cellar before you look at them.

I'll heartily agree with the comments about Australian shiraz as being far more complex and wideranging than the stereotype of a fuzzy, gagworthy fruit bomb. That being said, you only had five bottles to pair with five dishes, and were trying to cover the world!

I do like the concept of your piece, Eric, and hope you do more. This is personally more interesting to me than a lot of the fluffier pieces that are too common in the Snooth articles repertoire, even though Greg has been making efforts to provide more original content. Would be great if you could do a followup and look at some blends with lower syrah percentages than these, such as some from Minervois or California or Walla Walla or elsewhere in Oz or.... I'm sure you could find a number of examples in NYC. And perhaps the more you write them up, the more customers in NYC will ask their merchants to carry new labels.

Keep up the good work! Going to do any pinot noir or riesling or... matches?

I was more responding to the assertion in the article here that "These are big, rich aggressive wines and in my opinion you either love them or you hate them".
As I said in my previous post this type of writing perpetuates the myth about Australian Shiraz being one dimensional. Maybe we keep all the good stuff over here and ther's not enough left over to export apart from some quality exporters like Penfolds and Two Hands. The wineries mentioned in the previous post are only small boutique operators - but readily available in Australia.

Thanks dmcker, I'm happy to say that this will be a regular monthly addition to smooth that I'm writing. I certainly have no problem revisiting Syrah, but I would need to run the idea up to the "powers that be".

I understand Bobby Boy, and you are right. I was honestly trying to make broad generalizations. On the same topic, just think of how many Northern Rhone wines are now seeing aggressive oak treatment that's covering much of their earthy character. And even the example I used from California, is not necessarily what I would expect out of many of the higher end bottles.

Food matchings seemed odd to me - Chicken Marsala with Craem and pancetta - AND Crozes Hermitage? Surely white meat and dairy better suited to an oaked chardonnay? Crozes H needs cream like fishes need bicycles. surely a partner like game, duck, boiled beef and carrots, beef and mushrooms....Maybe simply roasted tenderloin of pork or a nice oven joint, but I crave Alsace whites with them. Chicken or rabbit in a tomatoey mushroom sauce would work - because the cream would be absent.

Have not had the six hours to show its character problem with PJ Aine's 2007 Crozes H before, you have been very unlucky there, pouring into a decanter helps things along with the young reds

The beautiful match with shiraz is always and everywhere LAMB, from a simple roast to a peppery curry. Old rule being the simpler/younger the wine the more complicated the food, and vice versa, eg with your grange hermitage make it Roast lamb and mashed potatoes, after a call to the Bank!

I went by the bottle in front of me, with the idea that someone would be buying that bottle to open and pour with dinner. The performance of the wine is what I used to decide what I'd pair with it. I tried not to fall into any ruts and literally tasted the bottle with food in mind, before even writing a tasting note. Give the pairing a shot, you might be pleasantly surprised.

I was not clear by your answer if it really did work, or should work. I ask because I thought Crozes Hermitage would be excellent with fillet steak for example, but the charring from the barbecue actually overwhelmed it slightly and left me wishing I'd chosen a bigger rhone wine like Gigondas.
The practice of matching food and wine throws up many surprises and peoples experiences can be really useful. Eg chilled white port - surprisingly for me- handles most cheeseboards. This direction of thread on snooth is very welcome. I know the Australians have a blue chip award that actually ranks wines by their food friendliness in a number of food matches.

You find Gigondas big, William? While for grenache it can have power, I find more richness and depth in a Northern Rhone syrah, by far (though there will be differences between a Cote Rotie and an Hermitage, and even within Cornas or Crozes Hermitage or St. Joseph depending on who's producing the wine). Haven't had any in the last few years since my tastes went elsewhere a while back, but even if Parker's influence has taken over there, too, I still can't think of it as big in any truly qualitative way.

Yes, more powerful than the Crozes Hermitage in alcohol by volume and in terms of ability to cope with the steak. For elegance I would tend to agree with you, and would drink Hermitage and Cote rotie more often if richer in wealth. But I do find the commune is really under-rated, and can drink well in relative youth. A modern example we were thrilled by was the relatively light 13.5 degree Gigondas Domaine du Cayron, 2007.
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It really depends on which Crozes we're talking about. Though if all you're discussing is alcohol percentage and fruit glop we may be at cross purposes here.

I've found Penedes garnachas bigger feeling than Gigondas, but I'm not just talking about extraction and the like. The Gigondas I used to like to drink, back when I did, had a refinement that kept them from that, even if almost none of them were deeply interesting. Personally I don't really think of alcoholic heat or fruit bombardment when I use 'power', at least in a positive way.

The one thing Gigondas did provide was good value, I felt back then. My impression is that prices are going up there, too, though I haven't looked closely in quite a while. It would be interesting to do a price comparison between the best Gigondas, and some good St. Josephs and Cornas and Crozes, with Penedes thrown in as a ringer, too.

And I've never had much trouble drinking any wellmade syrah with a steak, or roast beef for that matter....

By 'good' northern Rhone wines in those areas, I meant also lesser known, under-the-radar types, since generally the price level is higher than Gigondas. With good reason for that, historically speaking.

Also meant to say earlier that I'm with you on the game (depending on which bird or animal we're actually talking about) and lamb matches. I think Eric was reaching for something different than just the traditional, to match with a lighter syrah. Or so I guessed, anyway. Certainly a northern Rhone wouldn't be the first wine that popped to mind when I heard that menu, but I'd need to taste that specific bottle, and anyway I'm at least willing to give it a shot...

dmcker-san.....konichi wa!
Les Pallieres
Domaine de font Sane
Domaine Raspail-ay
E Guigal
Domaine du Cayron
I happily gamble on those with vignerons independents logos or, oppositely, the well known names like Guigal, Perrin, Paul Jaboulet Aine,if confronted with unknown quantities.
Also I have an excellent C de Pape at home and just cannot remember growers name right now. Ffurther south the good Bandols from pure Mourvedre like Domaine de Terrebrune. Our tastes do evolve as you say. Most steak shiraz combos are fine, it was only the charring that time.

Williamsimpson, like I said, I go with the bottle and in this case the palate was easily able to cut through the cream sauce. I wish I could guarantee that every bottle I bought could be the best representation of the region but I simply don't have that high of a budget. I'm a big fan of Chicken and Pork loin Marsala and it needs that texture and cut on the palate from the wine. If this was a big rich Syrah, it probably wouldn't have worked so well. This bottle actually kept getting better overnight and performed even better the next day but I try not to let tasting notes go over the course of a day, since most people don't give wine that much time to come around.

Now that at last it is clear that the wine and food were tried together, this recommendation is now elevated to very interesting, as it is not an obvious one, and shows Crozes Hermitages versatility as a food partner here with lighter meat - in contrast to the popular stereotype of syrah/shiraz wines.

I will be looking up Chicken Marsala and Pancetta recipes when we next have C.H in the house

Wonder, Eric, if it's possible to do more than five matches in one article, especially if you're trying to cover a whole world's worth of a certain varietal (I'm assuming your articles are tied to the GTIs)?